Saturday, August 30, 2014

I've been designing clothes for my mom as she has progressed through different stages of ALS. I won't be using pictures of my mom out of respect for her privacy and dignity.

First she got a feeding tube, also known as a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG). This meant she needed access to the port and the carrier for the tube which is kind of like a fanny pack. Clothing couldn't be tight across the area, and she didn't want to just lift her shirt, because that left her stomach exposed (or worse if she wanted to wear a dress), not to mention that the fabric had to be secured out of the way.

I immediately thought of some of the things I'd made for myself when I was nursing.

Fabric overlaps and secures with Velcro

Stretchy fabric is pulled out of
the way for easy access.

A similar concept with a knit fabric. No need for Velcro because the fabric was overlapped more since it was stretchy.

I also began purchasing "arthritis bras" and altering her bras to make them open in the front.

She was actually fairly happy with t-shirts on a daily basis, but wanted some nicer dresses for church. She'd also begun having issues with the use of her left hand so needed clothing that was easy to put on and take off (no awkward back zippers!).

Voila! The wrap dress!

Next problem - if you untie a wrap dress, it drapes open like a bathrobe and once again shows everything. So I extended the under panel to go all the way across the body to the other side (in other words, the "wrap" part of the dress was pretty much faux. The under panel covered the body of the dress and was secured with Velcro in the upper shoulder to prevent it from sagging. Cut a slit in the under panel to accommodate the PEG/ feeding tube and we were done!

Until the next issue - Being dressed by caretakers and making accommodations for being in a wheelchair!

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About Mary Brush

Mary Brush's family and friends often refer to her as a "Renaissance Woman" and it's not too difficult to figure out why. She is passionate about a variety of things, including working with small businesses, sales and marketing campaigns, manuscript editing, copy writing, graphic and CAD design, web design, custom sewing, interior design, and therapeutic parenting. Her enthusiasm, talent and hard work ensure that she excels in all of them. Her struggle has often been deciding where to focus her attention.

BrushStrokes began in 1988 as a clothing design studio, specializing in custom clothing and design, and quickly expanding to include interior decorating, architectural CAD design and graphic design.

Today, Mary Brush lends her years of experience to the corporate world. BrushStrokes offerings focus on corporate consulting (including restructuring operations, HR, profit and loss, and sales and marketing - including marketing campaigns and web site design) and manuscript editing (business writing, ebooks, and fiction).